15. For the purposes of this Title, the following persons who are victims are entitled to financial assistance, according to the terms prescribed by this Title:(1) a person who suffers interference with their integrity due to the commission of a criminal offence against them;
(2) a parent of a child who is deceased or suffers interference with their integrity due to the commission of a criminal offence against the child, or a person having parental authority over the child;
(3) a child of a parent who is deceased or suffers interference with their integrity due to the commission of a criminal offence against the parent, or a child over whom a person who is deceased or suffers such interference has parental authority;
(4) the spouse of a person who is deceased or suffers interference with their integrity due to the commission of a criminal offence against the person;
(5) a dependant of a person who is deceased or suffers interference with their integrity due to the commission of a criminal offence against the person;
(6) a close relation of a person who is deceased or suffers interference with their integrity due to the commission of a criminal offence against the person; and
(7) a witness to the commission of a criminal offence or to the intact scene of the offence.
A witness referred to in subparagraph 7 of the first paragraph includes(1) any person referred to in any of subparagraphs 2 to 6 of that paragraph who is a witness to the physical place where the criminal offence was committed against the person mentioned in those subparagraphs who is deceased or suffers the interference while the latter person and a police officer, peace officer, firefighter, pre-hospital emergency service ambulance technician or any other first responder are still at that place;
(2) any witness who is not at the scene when the offence is committed but who is nonetheless a witness due to being in communication with the person who is a victim referred to in subparagraph 1 of the first paragraph or with the perpetrator of the offence, provided the communication(a) is made using a technological means;
(b) involves an active exchange between the witness and the person who is a victim or the perpetrator of the offence;
(c) is made without any interruptions other than the intervals required to prepare and send or receive the next element of the exchange; and
(d) allows the witness to observe the offence, at the time of its commission, either visually, auditorily or through reading.
The intact scene corresponds to the physical place where a criminal offence was committed, as it is before a first responder mentioned in subparagraph 1 of the second paragraph arrives at that place.
2021, c. 132021, c. 13, s. 15.